Gaming machines which provide players awards in primary or base games are well known. Gaming machines generally require the player to place or make a wager to activate the primary or base game.
In such known gaming machines, the amount of the wager made on the primary game by the player may vary. For instance, the gaming machine may enable the player to wager a minimum number of credits, such as one credit (e.g., one cent, nickel, dime, quarter or dollar) up to a maximum number of credits, such as five credits. This wager may be made by the player a single time or multiple times in a single play of the primary game. For instance, a slot game may have one or more paylines and the slot game enables the player to make a wager on each payline in a single play of the primary game. Thus, it is known that a gaming machine, such as a slot game, enables players to make wagers of substantially different amounts on each play of the primary or base games.
In many of these gaming machines, the award is based on the player obtaining a winning symbol or symbol combination and on the amount of the wager. For example, when a player wagers multiple credits on a single payline and the player obtains a winning symbol combination on that payline, a win amount is typically based on the number of credits wagered on that payline. That is, the respective part of the paytable for that payline is chosen or determined based on the player's wager amount. Therefore, in many instances, as a player's wager increases, the amount a player can win increases. Symbols or symbol combinations that are less likely to occur usually provide higher awards.
For certain designated awards, players do not receive a higher award when they wager more. That is, the designated awards are not scaled to match the player's wager. For example, certain designated awards and prizes, such as physical awards (e.g., a motorcycle or boat), have a value that does not change based on the amount wagered by a player. These designated awards do not have to be predetermined and may increase, based on suitable incrementing factors, as is known in progressive awards. However, regardless of how much a player wagers, if they win the award, the player receives the value of the designated award and the paytable is not based on the amount wagered. For example, if the player wagers one credit on a game to win a jackpot award of $100,000 and wins, the player wins $100,000 for the one wagered credit. If the player wagers ten credits on a game to win a jackpot award of $100,000 and wins, the player wins $100,000 for ten wagered credits, or $10,000 per credit. The player who wagers more than the minimum required wager to be eligible for the award is in one sense at a disadvantage. This problem is compounded when gaming machines or games of different wager denominations are linked to offer the same designated award. In such circumstances, players who wager at gaming machines or on games with a higher wager denomination are wagering more to obtain a same designated award as someone who may be wagering less, at a lower wager denomination gaming machine or game.
In certain instances, instead of going to a casino, a player plays games at a gaming establishment website. On-line gaming enables games to be played using different types of currencies to play for one or more designated awards. Certain players with a less favorable exchange rate may be dissuaded from playing for an as is award or a designated award if they have to wager more to try to win the designated award than other players without an increased chance of winning the designated award and without an enhanced designated award. Additionally, on-line gaming frequently offers a greater range of wager denominations. Players playing for an as is award may also be discouraged from wagering with the higher wager denominations because they do not receive a benefit from such higher wagers.
An additional issue regarding these problems is that gaming machines typically include memory devices that store game programs. A processor of the gaming machine typically runs the stored game program to provide the game. Each of these game programs has a predetermined approved paytable. One known way to change the probability that a player will win an award is by changing one or more paytables of the game. Another known way to change the probability that a player will win an award in a slot game is by changing the quantities and/or types of the symbols on the reels or the probabilities associated with such symbols. In general, gaming establishments are not able to readily change game programs to have new paytables or vary the number or types of symbols and save the new program in the memory device of the gaming machine. Presently, if a gaming establishment wants to change the payback of a game, it must typically select from amongst a set of preloaded models or it must obtain and load a new mode of the game program.
Additionally, most gaming terminal play in a gaming establishment occurs in the context of a regulatory environment in which there is substantial cost and/or delay involved in obtaining approval for certain new types of base game programs. That is, for a gaming device manufacturer to provide a gaming establishment a game program to provide to a player that game program must have obtained regulatory approval. To obtain regulatory approval, a regulatory body must have approved the operation of the game program, including but not limited to, approving the paytable or prize structure, and the overall payback percentage. However, because the paytables are set for the games, the gaming establishment cannot easily change the odds of winning a designated award for players with larger wagers without changing the base game model.
Thus, there is a continuing need to provide new and different gaming machines and gaming systems as well as new and different ways to increase the probability of winning one or more designated awards for players.